Saluki spikers win two to close out play at Golden Eagle Invitational Southern came back to defeat Tennessee Tech in five sets before disposing of Western Illinois in four sets in the nightcap
COOKEVILLE, TENN. - The Southern Illinois University volleyball team won both of its matches to close out play at the Golden Eagle Invitational Saturday. The Salukis came back to defeat Tennessee Tech in five sets (25-12, 19-25, 21-25, 25-23, 15-13) in the opener and rallied to take down Western Illinois in four sets (23-25, 25-20, 25-17, 26-24) in the nightcap.
"We are extremely pleased with the resiliency this team has shown throughout the start of this season, regardless of what the score is," head coach Ed Allen said. "We are overall pleased with the way we are playing. We just need to get healthy and more consistent."
Down 12-6 in the decisive fifth set against Tennessee Tech, SIU's prospects looked bleak. In fact, the elo winning probabilities gives a team ahead 12-6 in a set played to 15 a 96.7 percent chance of victory. Not to be deterred, Southern closed on a 9-1 run, which included three of Savannah Sheridan's career-high 18 kills, to complete the 3-2 comeback win.
Southern took the opening set convincingly, 25-12, as it hit .464 and held Tennessee Tech to a .065 hitting efficiency. The Golden Eagles, however, won the next two frames to put SIU's backs against the figurative wall.
The comeback started in earnest in the fourth set. The Golden Eagles scored the first three points of the frame and led 15-11 at the midway point. Southern, however, used a 6-1 spurt to turn a four-point deficit (16-12) into a one-point lead (18-17). From there, the lead seesawed back and forth, with four ties and three lead changes before Southern took the lead for good at 23-21 on a kill by Rachel Maguire.
In the nightcap, Southern went ahead 2-1 over Western with wins in sets two and three but looked as if it was headed to five sets after it fell behind by as many as 10 (14-4) in the fourth set. The Leathernecks maintained its lead throughout most of the frame and was the first to set point at 24-19. But the Salukis had other plans, as they used a 7-0 run behind four of Kyra Hunter's team-high 15 kills to stun WIU and win the match in four sets.
"We had terrific performances out of our setters, Rachel and Alayna, who are both being asked to play all six rotations and are expected to hit, pass and set," Allen said. "We also had a couple of big performances out of Savannah, who had her best weekend as a Saluki to date. Kyra also stepped in and came up big for us against Western."
In the win over Tennessee Tech, Sheridan led the way with 18 kills and was one of four Salukis with double-digit kills. The redshirt junior was one of three hitters with double figure kills in the win over Western, as she put down 13 kills and led SIU on the weekend with a 2.77 kills per set average.
Rachel Maguire notched her sixth and seventh triple-doubles of the season. She had 11 kills, 15 assists and 13 digs in the win over the Golden Eagles and followed with 10 kills, 19 assists, a career-high 24 digs and two aces in the victory over the Leathernecks. In doing so, she broke Meg Viggars school-record for triple-doubles in a single-season. Maguire's seven triple-doubles are the most in the Missouri Valley Conference since at least 2015. Southern's eight triple-doubles this season (Maguire- 7, Martin -1) are as many as the rest of the MVC has had in the past four years combined.
Alayna Martin's run of seven-straight matches with assist-dig double-doubles just barely came to an end in the win over Western. The senior setter/hitter had six kills, 35 assists and a career-best 19 digs in the opener and followed with six kills, 24 assists and nine digs in the win over Western.
Lindsey Paulsen hit at a .300 clip with seven kills on 20 swings in the win over Western and was one of four Salukis with double-digit kills in the win over Tennessee Tech. The Frankfort, Ill. native put down 10 kills with three block assists in the win over the Golden Eagles.
Defensively, four Salukis notched double-digit digs in both of SIU's wins Saturday. Laura Rojas led the way, as she dug out a career-high 28 balls to go along with a career-best nine assists in the win over Tennessee Tech. The senior libero followed with 18 digs and seven assists in the win over Western. Abi Fitzpatrick chipped in 14 digs and 12 digs in the back-to-back wins, while Katy Kluge totaled 12 digs against TTU and 13 digs to go along with three aces in the win over the Leathernecks.
SIU returns to the court Friday at Bradley.